Prepare Your Landscape Beds for the Growing Season With These 3 Tasks!

Prepare Your Landscape Beds For The Growing Season With These 3 Tasks!

Summer in Arizona is on its way and your plants are going to need as much TLC as possible! Early spring is the best time to prepare your landscape beds to ensure that your plants stay healthy and thrive throughout the summer. Applying pre-emergent weed control, adding a rock ground covering, and trimming and pruning your plants are all ways to prepare your plants and limit the amount of landscape maintenance you'll have to do throughout the summer.

1. Apply Pre-Emergent Weed Control

If you're looking to get ahead of the game when it comes to weeds, a pre-emergent weed control treatment is your answer. This treatment is meant to be applied before weeds begin sprouting up through your soil, which is why it is best to schedule it in early spring.

Once applied, the pre-emergent will create a barrier that will block germinating weed seeds from breaching your soil. Because of this, the seeds won't have access to the sunlight that they need, so they will die out. By applying a pre-emergent weed control treatment in early spring, you will get rid of most, if not all, of the weed seeds in your soil after winter. This will help you save time in the long run because you won't have to apply as many post-emergent weed control treatments!

2. Lay A Rock Ground Covering

Contrary to popular belief, ground coverings aren't just for looks! While they do add style to your property, the main function of a ground covering is to protect your plants.

By adding a rock ground covering to your landscape beds in the spring, you will:

• Protect your plants from the shift in temperature. The transition into the Arizona summer heat can be hard on your plants. A rock ground covering serves as a barrier from the heat of the sun and keeps your soil cooler so that your plants can thrive.
• Help retain soil moisture. Although many plants here Arizona survive with little water, it is still important to retain any soil moisture they can get. Rocks will block the sun from your soil so that the moisture doesn't evaporate as quickly.
• Limit weed growth. While a rock ground covering won't be as effective as a pre-emergent weed control treatment, it will certainly help suppress weed growth by blocking essential resources from your weeds, making it hard for them to grow and compete with your desired plants.

It is best to refresh your rock ground covering every year.

3. Trim & Prune Your Plants

Trimming and pruning serve different purposes. Trimming your plants in the spring is solely for appearance - it will tidy up any overgrown plants and increase your curb appeal as we head into the summer. Pruning, on the other hand, is all about the health of your plants. This involves searching for any branches or limbs that are dead or diseased. If you find any, you will prune them to ensure the issue doesn't spread to the rest of the plant. Pruning is an extremely important task to do before the growing season to make sure that your plants are as healthy as can be.

Some plants can be pruned in the spring and others can't, so make sure you consult a landscaping company before you pick up the shears!

We Can Help Prepare Your Landscape Beds For The Growing Season. Call Us!

The growing season is fast approaching, so it's important to do everything you can to prepare your landscape beds for the heat! Our team can apply pre-emergent weed control, refresh or install a new rock ground covering, and trim and prune your plants before the summer heat rolls in. We serve the Gilbert, AZ area, including Chandler and Mesa. Call us today to schedule any of our landscaping services!